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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The University Conference Hall (DPU), venue for this month'sISDEV Monthly Graduate Supervision

27 Feb – This month’s ISDEV Monthly Supervision
was held at the University Conference Hall (DPU) of Universiti Sains
Malaysia again. More than 50 ISDEV members consisting of ISDEV lecturers and students
as well as prospective student attended this monthly programme on 8 February,
2013. Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad served as the Chairperson throughout the
session.

The program started at 9.30am with the “Tarbiyah Pengarah” series delivered by ISDEV Director, Professor Muhammad Syukri Salleh. This is the second part to his three-part Tazkirah on “Teras Kekuatan ISDEV”. This time the emphasis was on the importance of ‘Ukhwah’ (Islamic brotherhood) among ISDEV members. It is a follow-up to the first part on ‘Iman’ which he had stressed during the previous month’s graduate supervision.

(Left to Right) Dr Zakaria Bahari and Prof. Muhammad Syukri Salleh

Dr. Zakaria Bahari, ISDEV Deputy Director, then led the second session with his further explanation on “Problem Statement’. This is a continuation of the lecture from previous month. Some MISDEV’12 students as well as RISDEV students were asked to highlight the Problem Statement of their research by stating the issues that revolve around their study.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

'Abdullah b. 'Umar reported that Allah's Messenger (salallahu 'alaihi wassalam) said: Three persons set out on a journey. They were overtaken by rain and they had to find protection in a mountain cave where at its mouth there fell a rock of that mountain and thus blocked them altogether. One of them said to the others: Look to your good deeds that you performed for the sake of Allah and then supplicate Allah, the Exalted, that He might rescue you (from this trouble). One of them said: 0 Allah, I had my parents who were old and my wife and my small children also. I tended the flock and when I came back to them in the evening, I milked them (the sheep, goats, cows, etc.) and first served that milk to my parents. One day I was obliged to go out to a distant place in search of fodder and I could not come back before evening and found them (the parents) asleep. I milked the animals as I used to milk and brought milk to them and stood by their heads avoiding to disturb them from sleep and I did not deem it advisable to serve milk to my children before serving them. My children wept near my feet. I remained there in that very state and my parents too until it was morning. And (0 Allah) if Thou art aware that I did this in order to seek Thine pleasure, grant us riddance from this trouble. (The rock slipped a bit) that they could see the sky. The second one said: 0 Allah, I had a female cousin whom I loved more than the men love the women. I wanted to have sexual intercourse with her; she refused but on the condition of getting one hundred dinirs. It was with very great difficulty that I could collect one hundred dinirs and then paid them to her and when I was going to have a sexual intercourse with her, that she said: Servant of Allah, fear Allah and do not break the seal (of chastity) but by lawful means. I got up. 0 Allah, if Thou art aware that I did this in order to seek Thine pleasure, rid us from this trouble. The situation was somewhat eased for them. The third one said: Allah, I employed a workman for a measure of rice. After he had finished his work I gave him his dues (in the form of) a measure of rice, but he did not accept them. I used these rice as seeds, and that gave a bumper crop and I became rich enough to have cows and flocks (in my possession). He came to me and said: Fear Allah, and commit no crueltv upon me in regard to my dues. I said to him: Takeaway this flock of cows and sheep. He said: Fear Allah and do not make a fun of me. I said: I am not making a fun of you. You take the cows and the flocks. So he took them. 0 Allah, if Thou art aware that I did it for Thine pleasure, case the situation for us. And Allah relieved them from the rest of the trouble [Translation of Sahih Muslim, Book 36: The Book of Heart-Melting Traditions (Kitab Al-Riqaq) Chapter 2, Number 6607].

Thursday, February 21, 2013

22 Feb - Another four ISDEV PhD candidates (or "RISDEV") get the approval to proceed with their thesis proper. They are Ridwan Nurdin, Salimah Yahaya, Wan Norhaniza Wan Hasan and Agustyarsyah Mohamad. This month the PhD proposal presentations were divided into two sessions at two different venues. It was held on Thursday 7 February, 2013. The morning session was held at C23 while the afternoon session was at C06. Both sessions were well attended as no chair was spared.

Both Ridwan and Salimah are pursuing their PhD under the supervision of Dr.Zakaria Bahari. However, Dr. Nor Zarina Mohd Zaharim is the co-supervisor for Ridwan while Dr. Zahari Hamat is Salimah 's co- supervisor.

Professor Muhammad Syukri Salled, ISDEV Director, is supervising Wan Norhaniza with her PhD thesis while Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad acts as her co-supervisor. For Agustyarsyah, Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad is his main supervisor while his co-supervisor is Professor Muhammad Syukri Salleh.

A RISDEV student poses a question during the afternoon session.

After a detailed evaluation, all candidates finally received the good tidings that their PhD research proposals were accepted. They had all been given the endorsement to proceed with their thesis proper under the supervision of their respective supervisors.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

20 Feb- It has become a tradition in ISDEV that newly enrolled MISDEV students organize a simple yet memorable program which is part of ISDEV culture. This tradition is symbolically referred to as "Malam Restu Ilmu" for the graduating MISDEV students. For this year the "MAJLIS RESTU ILMU" was held on the 8th of January, 2013, at the Banquet Hall of USM. The significance of such program is to enable ISDEV lecturers to bestow their blessings to all MISDEV'11 students the knowledge that has been shared and imparted into the students who have just completed their studies.

The program saw almost all ISDEV members including students, lecturers and their family members attending the program. The night started with the congregational Maghrib prayer. Ustaz Syahir Akram led the solat followed by his Tazkirah Maghrib. This was thereafter immediately followed by a celebration interlude of presenting gifts to newly-wed and newborn within ISDEV members. The gifts were all presented by ISDEV Director, Prof. Muhammad Syukri Salleh.

After performing the congregational Isyak prayer, Prof.Syukri then gave his welcoming speech followed by a multimedia presentation on the trials and tribulations of MISDEV'11 as "students of ISDEV". The night was dedicated to them as they are the ones who will be graduating soon.

The delectable spread for the special occasion

A delectable dinner was served while ISDEV members leveraged the opportunity to strengthen the bonds and catch up with one another family members who also attended to enliven the night. The program ended at 11.00 pm.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

13 Feb - On 18 December 2012, 11 students from the Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM) were at ISDEV to share ideas and information on USIM in general and the Faculty of Economics and Muamalat in particular as well as to know more about ISDEV accomplishments, the courses offered and activities conducted by ISDEV.

The delegation from USIM was led by Associate Professor Dr. Zurina Shafii and assisted by Dr. Nurhidayah Laili, both of whom are from the faculty. Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad served as a chairman of the program which was held at C23.

Associate Professor Dr. Zurina Shafii - head of delegations from USIM

Dr. Nurhidayah Laili from USIM introducing herself

Presentation from ISDEV was given by two postgraduate students embarking on the research area in Islamic Asset Management. The first was given by Shereeza Mohd Saniff who presented on both the Masters and PhD programmes offered by the School of Social Sciences, through ISDEV. She also informed USIM delegates about the various regular weekly, monthly and annual activities organized by ISDEV, through which ISDEV cultured is inculcated and preserved.

Azreen Hamiza Abdul Aziz then presented on her research pertaining to the Contemporary Concept of Islamic Asset Management and passionately shared her positive and endearing experience being a Masters student of ISDEV.

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, salallahu 'alaihi wassalam, said, “He who relieves the hardship of a believer in this world, Allah will relieve his hardship on the Day of Judgment; he who makes easy what is difficult, Allah will make it easy for him in the world and the Hereafter; he who conceals the faults of a Muslim, Allah will conceal his faults in the world and the Hereafter; Allah helps the servant so long as he helps his brother; he who travels a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make easy a path to Paradise; a people do not gather together in the houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah and studying together, except that tranquility will descend upon them, mercy will cover them, angels will surround them, and Allah will mention them to those with Him; and he who is slow to good deeds will not be hastened by his lineage.” [Sahih Muslim, Book 35, Number 6518]

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

A group photo - ISDEV members with the Norwegian Undergraduate Students

25 Jan-27 undergraduate students from
Agder University and Bergen University College, Norway, were at ISDEV to
participate in the 5th Annual Lecture Series on Contemporary Islam in Malaysia.
They were led by Professor Dr. Levi Geir Eidhamar. It was an annual occasion
resulting from the signing of an MoU between ISDEV and the Norway Universities
sometime in 2007. Dr. Zakaria Bahari, ISDEV Deputy Director, served as the
chairman of the program which was held at C23.

Dr Zakaria Bahari (left) chairing the session and on the right is
Professor Dr. Levi Geir Eidhamar

Shereeza (holding the microphone) presenting her point

The session was divided into two parts. The first part was
a talk on "Conversion and The Use of the Name of Allah SWT" by
Shereeza Mohamed Saniff, ISDEV PhD candidate while the second talk was
delivered by Associate Professor Dr Ahmad
Fauzi Abdul Hamid from the School of Distance Education, entitled
'Bumiputera Policies in Malaysia'.

During the Q& A session, Prof. Levi raised his disagreement on the prohibition of the use of the term Allah by non-Muslims in Malaysia. His disagreement is based on three reasons. Firstly the term Allah had been used by the Christians in Egypt for a long time, even before the time of Rasulullah SAW. Secondly, Rasulullah SAW did not prohibit the usage of the term Allah, hence it is against the sunnah of Rasulullah SAW if the Malaysian Muslims prohibit it. Thirdly the non-Muslims in East Malaysia have been using the term Allah without any problem.

Prof. Levi (left) presenting his view point during the Q&A session

In response, Shereeza with the help of ISDEV Director, Professor Muhammad Syukri Salleh disagreed with Prof. Levi's arguments based also on three reasons. Firstly, the non-Muslims in Egypt have been using the term Allah for mere linguistic purpose only, not in term of the conceptual meaning of God that is based on religious epistemological and philosophical underpinnings. Secondly, in understanding the sunnah of Rasulullah SAW, one has to equip himself with tools of knowledge especially usul-giqh, that enables him to understand what is obligatory (wajib), prohibited (haram), encouraged (nawafil/sunat), discouraged (makruh) and optional (jaiz) in relations to the deeds of Rasulullah SAW. No direct prohibition does not necessarily mean it is encouraged; it could also mean optional. Thirdly, one has to also master the knowledge on maslahah (common good) and the al-thabat wa al-murunah (fixed and flexibility) concept in applying the laws of Islam in accordance to the suitability of place and time for the maximum benefit of the ummah. The prohibition on the use of the term Allah in Malaysia should be seen from the perspective of maslahah, for the sake of unity of the Malaysian multi-religious society.